Always on the move, artist Cathy Busby is once again giving Halifax international presence. On June 12, she leaves for a group show at Aberdeen’s Peacock Visual Arts (curated by the lovely Milena Placentile), where she’ll install a next-generation version of 24/7 at Work, a show she did at Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery in 2005, where she displayed management textbooks together with products such as deodorants, toothpastes and energy drinks that were labelled “High Endurance,” “36 Hour Power!” and “Powerful Thirst Relief.” From there, the artist, along with Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery director **Robin Metcalfe**, will head to Sydney, Australia, for Sorry, which focuses on the pervasiveness of public apologies (recently Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd apologized to the “Stolen Generations” of that country’s indigenous population) and a panel discussion with William Kentridge, as part of the Sydney Biennale. Then she heads to Melbourne for a show of her apology wall-texts paintings. That’s quite the passport stamp.

An incredible amount has been accomplished in the past few days: shopping for materials, scouting sites, detailing promotional and didactic material, and preparing the gallery for installation. But, on top of that Monika and I have still managed to squeeze in some fun. First we stopped into the Moorings Bar for pints, and then met up with a group of fantastic people at a lovely spot part of the Ferryhill House Hotel.

Today we’ve avoided starting too early, but the day is wearing on and it looks like it’ll still be a while before we can call it quits. At least our next site scouting jaunt will take us to Aberdeen’s beach! That’s my idea of mixing work and play =-)

I have a ton of photos to share, but not a great deal of time to do it, so I’ll have to leave this post as text-only for now.

I arrived earlier today to a very warm welcome and everything has been going very nicely! Not too long ago, we wrapped up our installation planning meeting. It’s a fantastic group of people here, and everyone is excited about the show … I’m looking forward to getting started on the nitty gritty bits =-).

Cathy arrives tomorrow, Saki and Anja & Anja arrive on Sunday… we’ll all be keeping busy, but we’re sure to have a lot of fun, as well.

If I’d not been awake for approximately 27 hours, I’m sure I’d have a lot more to write… I’ve already taken photos, but I’ll have to post them when I’m a little more coherent 😉

I know you’re all very eagerly awaiting the latest updates concerning our forthcoming exhibition, No Time to Lose. Well, the time is finally here to share details!

I’m thrilled to report that everything is still very well on track. This is with enormous thanks to the staff at Peacock Visual Arts, but it is also in large part thanks to the Henry Moore Foundation because, without them, we would not have been able to continue working toward a launch on Thursday, June 12. That said, please note that we’ll be kicking off at 6:00 p.m. and everyone is welcome. We hope you’ll join us!

As noted in the schedule below, we’ve made a few changes to our program.

Most noteworthy is that PVA invited me to select a few short films for presentation as part of their cineclub programming. I have opted to show four projects by six Canadian artists representing twenty years of thought on the subject of work/life balance issues in contemporary media arts.

Kika Thorne’s Work looks at the work we have to do in order to do the work we want to do.

Coleen Finlayson & Cherie Moses’ The Measure of Success demonstrates the struggles so many of us must go through to conceal our true selves to please others in unpleasing work-related situations.

Emily Vey Duke & Cooper Battersby’s A Cure for Being Ordinary shares insights into how to world of work functions, how we’re trapped in it’s mechanisms, and what we can do to become free.

Leila Sujir’s Dreams of the Night Cleaners illuminates the reality of work as a means to an end, but not as a reflection of ourselves, our hopes, and our dreams.

In other news, we’ve decided to take full advantage of Peacock’s facilities and present the on-site components of No Time to Lose in two parts.

During the last week of the exhibition’s duration, Tobaron Waxman will present his performance-activated new media sculptural installation

Cathy Busby’s off-site sculptural intervention will be presented for the full run of the show

Amy Alexander will perform her new media intervention on June 20… details concerning her performance will be announced shortly.

In a few days, I will be at PVA to join the gallery staff as they prepare to welcome the artists, most of who are arriving a few short days later. We will begin gathering materials and scoping out sites for the forthcoming interventions, and the installation period will begin shortly thereafter.

While in Aberdeen, I hope to provide regular updates of our activities. And of course, photos will be a key part of that.

Everyone involved with No Time to Lose is looking forward to your feedback. If you’d like to engage in conversation with any of us, please feel free to use this blog as a starting point. There is a great deal for us to discuss!

‘No Time to Lose’ is a response to the systemic decline of personal time being experienced by people in various parts of the world due to increased hours spent working. Through an exhibition and program of events, it draws attention to the unsustainability of social and economic systems that do not afford people sufficient time outside of work. It also addresses the individual and civic costs associated with insufficient time to attend to health, relationships, community, and politics.

‘No Time to Lose’ is envisioned as a contribution to global efforts directed at motivating and mobilizing people to trust their instincts and take back their time. As such, it features artwork that encourages audiences to disengage from their stressful routines and consider what they are losing because of an unbalanced lifestyle. Additionally, projects suggest how individuals might be able to make changes for the better.

‘No Time to Lose’ seeks to facilitate participation for a range of audiences. For example, gallery visitors will have the chance to engage in exploration and conversation, while unsuspecting individuals can experience moments of difference by encountering performance and/or installation-based interventions deployed in public spaces. Audiences from other distant cities will also be able to participate through online forums designed to foster solidarity across geographical borders.

‘No Time to Lose’ offers new and recent work by international artists. Projects involve performance, installation, video, and new media, as well as interdisciplinary and collaborative practices.

With deepest thanks to our supporters: the Scottish Arts Council, the City of Aberdeen, The Henry Moore Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts, the City University of New York, Van Lier Fellowship administered by Harvestworks, and Hangar.org.

I am grateful for the opportunity Monika and I had to meet in person. Even with email, Skype, and the telephone, face-to-face really does wonders!

Our visit was short, but we accomplished a lot. In one evening, catch-up and planning over dinner, an early morning meeting the next day (which involved a great tour of the Gallery’s facilities + a careful look at the available exhibition spaces), and then I was back on a bus, and then a plane, and en route to my next destination. Brief, but very effective; freelance work in the 21st century has to be!

I’m Milena, the curator of No Time to Lose, which is an exhibition about work/life balance that will soon be presented at Peacock Visual Arts in Aberdeen, Scotland.

I’m very interested in curating exhibitions of contemporary art that are socially and politically resonant to a wide range of audiences. Equally so, I’m interested in creating dialogue about the issues raised through the course of exhibition development and presentation. Hence this blog =-)

I’m looking forward to getting started here, but for now, I just wanted to post a brief introduction. Please feel free to comment on anything, and please do bookmark this blog for future reading… I’ll work out the RSS feed details as soon as I can.